New SuperDrive Not Working XP

Mario,

When the drive is plugged in on the XP side is it being seen in Device Manager? From my experience, I have to have the SuperDrive plugged into the machine before I boot to XP. Otherwise if it's not then it won't detect the drive until I restart the partition. Was that the case?

Mario,

It sounds like you've exhausted all the direct troubleshooting that would occur on a software issue.

- Delete Boot Camp partition
- Complete reinstall of Windows OS
- Complete reinstall of drivers for Windows OS

That's about as finite as it's going to get, you've essentially started back at square one. The only next suggestion would be to return the drive as defective, or see if you can get your hands on another one and see if the issue replicates itself. It'd seem highly unlikely that two drives would have the exact same problem on the Windows side, which would identify a potential software issue along the line.

Unfortunately, my experience has dictated that it either works or doesn't... and if a total wipe of the Boot Camp partition, with thorough reinstallation does not fix the issue than the next logical conclusion is hardware.

Do not delete your partition and waste 3 hours reinstalling drivers. I ran into this exact problem, but happened when I performed an install on a macbook and transfered that partition to a macbook air because we did not have the external superdrive. Soon after the initial install, a superdrive was acquired, but would not be working in XP. The superdrive was being recognized in the device manager, but said there was a configuration issue and to reinstall the drivers. To get around this:

1. Go into device manager
2. Select the External SuperDrive (should have a yellow exclamation mark)
3. Right click SuperDrive, select "Update Driver"
4. Select "No, not this time"
5. Select "Install from a list or specific location"
6. Select "Don't search. I will choose driver to install"
7. Select "USB Mass Storage Device" (do not select External Super Drive)
8. Click Finish
9. Now you will see your optical drive be recognized by XP, but it is not yet functional. Go back to device manager and select the super drive (probably labeled external optical drive, or perhaps usb mass storage device).
10. Repeat Steps 1-6.
11. When you get back to your choices, now you can select "Apple SuperDrive"
12. Enjoy your SuperDrive.

It now works. Hope this helps you save time instead of reinstalling XP and going through another strenuous activation process (especially if you already have VMWare or Parallels set up).

thank you thank you thank you thank you....

This is the solution. It finally worked!! excellent.

thanks Sieben